Cultivator.



No. 678.")3. I Patented July 9, l90l.

r. E. DAVIS.

OULTIVATOR.

(Application filed June 8, 1900.)

3 Sheats8hoet I.

(No Model.)

No. 678,l03.' Patented My 9, I91.

F. E. DAVIS.

UULTIVATOR.

(Application flied June 8, 1900.) (No Mo m a Shoots-Slag 2.

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N0. 678,!03. Patented July 9, I90l.

r. E. DAVIS. V

CULTIVATOB.

(Application filed June 8, I900.)

(No Model.) 3 Sheets$heet 3.

UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

FRANK E. DAVIS, OF LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN.

CULTIVATO R.

SPECIFIOATIQN forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 678,103, dated July 9,1901.

' Application filed June 8, 1900. Serial No. 19,540. No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. DAvis, of the city of La Crosse, county ofLa Crosse, and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Cultivators, of which the following is a'specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in cultivators, and moreparticularly to balanced cultivators having a swing shovelframe. By abalanced-frame cultivator I mean one having the frame proper mountedupon a rocking arched axle and provided with means whereby thewheel-journals may be thrown backward and forward, so asto bal ance theframe of the cultivator in operation and also when the shovels are outof the ground, thus preventing the tongue from flying up under theweight of the driver as in turning. By a swing-frame cultivator I mean acultivator having its shovel-beams connected by an arch at their frontends, said arch being suspended or sustained, so as to be capable of alateral movement to enable the shovels to be moved laterally to avoidobstacles or the plants under cultivation.

My invention more particularly has in View the following objects: First,to provide a bala'nced cultivator which is easily adjusted, so as tomaintain a perfect balance and in which is provided a rigid brace forthe axle under all conditions; second, to provide a laterally swingingor shifting shovel-frame and means for shifting said frame, so as tocarry the shovel-beams bodily laterally with slight effort on the partof the operator; third, to com bine with such laterally swinging orshifting shovel-frame and its operating-lever a connection 'to thetongue, so that the wheels are shifted angularly to the line of draftwhen the shovel-beams are swung or carried laterally; fourth, to combinein a balanced cultivator with the rocking crank-axle and its adjustingmechanism a connection between said axle and the shovel-beam, wherebythe rocking of the crank-axle is caused to automatically raise theshovel-beam; fifth, to the combination, with the shovel-beam frame; ofbraces extending from said frame to the seat or mainframe of thecultivator, which braces are'inde'pend ent of the crank-axle,wherebysaid axle may be adjusted to balance the frame without disturbingthe adjustments of the shovel-beam draft-pole. the crank-axle, itsadjustable braces, the laterally-swinging arch and the links connectingthe horizontal portions of the arch with a until the shovel-beam startsto rise, when said spring assists in the lifting operation; seventh, tomeans for locking the shovel-beam frame against lateral swing and tomeans for changing the connections of the shovel-beams to their framefrom a rigid to a pivotal connection to adapt said shovel-beams to beswung laterally upon their pivots, and, eighth,to provisions forlockingthe pivoted tongue against movement while permitting the shovel-beamframe to be swung laterally.

The accompanying drawings illustrate only so much and such parts of thecultivator as are necessary to the understanding of my 1mprovementstherein, and I have omitted the lifting levers and springs,whereby theshovel- .:bea ms are raised out of the ground, as such devices are wellknown and are applied in a great variety of ways.

In the drawings, Figure lis'a front perspective view of the cultivatorthe liftinglevers omitted and the draft tongue or polev broken away.Fig. 2 is a plan view with the shovel-beams omitted. Fig." 3 is asectionalelevation taken in a plane parallel to the Fig. 4' is aperspective view of the'axle. Fig. lis a modification. Fig. 5 is a frontelevation, partly broken'away,"o'f the arch, showing the manner ofconnectingthe shovel-beams, braces, and shifting-lever thereto. Fig. 6is a sectional elevation of the arch, showing the'shifting-lever pivot;and Fig. 7 is an end elevation of the arch,

showing the shovel-beam connection partly in section.

In the drawings, 10 represents'the crankaxle of usual form, and 11 theground-wheels, mounted on horizontal journals thereof.

This axle is journaled in suitable half-boxes 12, carried by theseat-bars 13, and the latter are connected rigidly by the cross-bar 1 Lwith hounds 15. Said hounds extend forward parallel to each other for adistance in front of the axle and their extremities are converged andrigidly connected together by the U- shaped strap 16. The tongue passesthrough the opening of this U shaped strap, and a single pivot-bolt 17pivotally connects the evener 18 and tongue to the frame, consisting ofthe hounds and seat-bars. The tongue extends rearwardly behind its pivotbeneath an upwardly-bent strap 19, which is connected to the hounds atits ends and terminates in front of the cross-bar 14. Said cross-bar hasthereon an upwardly-arched strap 20, which affords a bearing for thepivot 21 of a shiftin g-lever 22, which is connected to the tonguethrough a link 23 and an arm 24, the latter extending at an angle fromthe tongue and having an aperture to receive the end of the link 23, sothat the swinging of the tongue may be caused. By means of the mechanismjust described the direction of the travel of the cultivator may bevaried by manipu lation of the shifting-lever 22. The principal purposeof the shifting-lever is, however, to control the lateral movement oftheshovelbeams and said beams. The mode of mounting and controlling themwill therefore be next described. The shovel beams are marked 25 26, andtheir front ends are connected to an arch-bar 27, preferably by means ofthe pipe-boxes 28. (See Fig. 5 These pipe-boxes haverearwardly-extending short arms 29, having bolt-apertures 30 31, and theshovel-beams are secured thereto by two bolts 32 33, when it is desiredto have the shovelbeams rigidly connected to the arch-bar. When soconnected, it'is obvious that the lateral shifting of the arch willcarrythe shovelbeams laterally. If, however, it be desired to render theshovel-beams independent of the swing of the arch,or, in other words,independently movable in ahorizontal plane and around vertical axes, oneof said bolts may be removed and the shovel-beam thereupon swung in ahorizontal plane as well as vibrated in avertical plane, turning aboutthe end of the archbar as its axis. The arch-bar extends upwardly, andits arms'are preferably inclined rearwardly, its central portioncarrying a pivot-bolt 34:, which receives the forward end of theshifting-lever22. From the foregoing description it will be understood,the shiftinglever 22 being pivoted at 21 upon a fixed part of the frame,that its vibration or sidewise swing will shift the arch laterally,carrying with it the shovel-beams. The tongue being connected to thesame shifting-lever, as above described, will also be swung upon itspivot, and the combined result of these movements will be to carry theshovel-beams and the shovels thereon out of line with an obstruc tion orthe plants under cultivation, and at the same time to change the courseor direction of the ground-wheels. These movements are not novel,however, cultivators having been previously constructed in which alaterally shifting arch connecting the shovelbeams has been connected tothe tongue, and a shifting-lever also pivotally connected to the tonguehas been made to swing both the tongue and the arch. My construction,however, possesses certain advantages over that just mentioned. In thefirst place my shifting-lever is connected directly to the archbar, andthe tongue is not directly connected with the arch, but is connectedwith the shifting-lever, and this connection may be removed, so as toleave the tongue free to swing upon its pivot, or the tongue may belocked to the frame, as hereinafter described, and the arch movedindependently of the tongue. When both the tongue and the arch areconnected to the shifting-lever in the manner shown and described, thetongue does not partake of the full swinging movement of the arch byreason of the arrangement of the pivots, the movement of the rear end ofthe tongue being considerably less than the side swing of the arch. Thearch may be supported'in various ways, but I prefer to suspend it bymeans of the swinging links 36 37, these links being pivotally connectedby means of the short arms 38 to the arch at the lower bends thereof.The upper ends of the links are pivotally connected to the strap 19, andthus these links are free to swing laterally while they sustain the archand the front ends of the shovel-beams. This produces much less frictionthan the mounting of the arch-bar in a bearing carried by the frame. Thefriction of the tongue as it swings back and forth may be reduced byproviding it 'with antifriction roller'39, traveling between thecrossbar lland strap 20, as seen in Fig. 3. The thrust-braces 40 ll arepivotally connected at their forward ends to fixed collars 42 on theextremities of the horizontal portions of the arch 27,and at their rearends upon downwardly-curved carry-irons4c3,

bolted to the hounds 15. These thrust-braces, it will be observed, areindependent of the axle, and hence the adjustment of the axle does notin any way tend to disturb the position of the arch. The axle, however,is connected to the shovel-beams, and I preferably make this a slidingconnection. This may be made, as shown in Fig. 4, by means of rods 44;,whose rear ends are looped, as shown at 45, to embrace the axle at itslower bend, and

1 their forward ends are turned and enter one of a series of aperturesin an arm 46, which is rigidly secured with the pipe-box 28; but Iprefer to employ the construction shown in Fig. 1, wherein rods 44 havetheir rear ends adapted to slide through a perforation in the clip 4,5,connected to the vertical member of the axle, and limited by the pin ll.In this construction the sliding rod has a greater lev-' erage on theshovel-beam thrown backwardly than when it is connected by means of thelooped rods. The leverage may be further varied by sliding the clip upand down on the but in such case the shovel-beams would al-' ways beaffected by the adjustment of the axle.

The crank-axle is adjustable, so as to carry the wheels forward or backwith reference to the frame for the purpose of balancing the weight ofthe frame and of the driver both in use and when the shovels are out ofthe ground. For this purpose I employ the brace-rods 47, secured to thecrank-axle near its lower bend and pivotally connected to theextremities of a rocking crank-shaft 48, carried in suitable bearings 49on the hounds 15. An adjustinglever 50 ispivoted on the frame of themachine, and its lower end is connected by a link 51 with one of thearms of the rock-shaft 48. By throwing this lever 50 forward or thuscarrying the wheels forward 'or back, and this change of the base withreference to the load balances the cultivator, so as to prevent thetongue from flying up, so as to maintain the draft-tongue and theoperative parts in their proper and normal positions.

By connecting the shovel-beamswith the crank-axle in the mannerdescribed it will be obvious that when the axle is rocked in a directionto carry the wheels backward until the axles strike the closed ends ofthe loops 45 of the connecting-rods 44 j the tendency will be to liftthe shovels out'of "the ground. To further assist in this liftingoperation, I connect a spring 52 to the thrust-brace 40 and the arm46,the series of apertures in said arm enabling the tension of thespring to be varied. WVhen the shovels are in the earth, the spring ispractically inactive, although it may be so adjusted as to give a slightcushioning effect to the shovel-beams; but the inactivity of the springis due to the arrangement of its connections, which are such that itexerts little, if any, leverage upon the shovel-beam when it is at work;but the spring is normally under tension and when'through the backwardmovement of the axle there is a pull upon the connecting-rod 44, andthereby upon the arm 46, thus throwing the forward point of connectionof the springout of line with the pivot of the shovel-beam, said springimmediately becomes effective to assist in 6o raising the shovels out ofthe ground.

I have shown in Fig. 2 a latch 53, which may be connected to the arm 24so as to lock the tongue rigidly to the frame, and if the tongue be solocked and also connected through the link 23 to the shifting-lever 22it is obvious that the tongue and arch-bar become rigidly locked withthe frame. "When so locked, the shovel-beams may be pivotally connectedto the arch-bar by the removal of one of the bolts, as above described,and handles may be applied to the shovel-beams for controlling them orthey may be controlled by the feet of the operator.

It is obvious that the foregoing construction and arrangement of partsenables the carrying out of the objects hereinbefore set forth, andwhile I prefer to employ each and all of said devices in combinationwith each other, yet it is obvious that some of them might be used whereothers are omitted, and it is obvious also that theexact means ofmounting or supporting the several operative parts do not constituteessential features of my invention.

I claim 1. In a balanced cultivator, the combination of an archedwheel-axle provided with ground-wheels, a main frame having pivotalconnect-ion with the arched portion of said axle and provided with anoperators seat in rear of said pivotal connection, atransverselyarranged crank-shaft mounted in journals in the mainframe'at a pointin front of the connection of the latter with the archedportion of the axle, a rigid crank-arm upon each end of saidcrank-shaft, rigid operating-links connecting the free ends of saidcrank-arms with the wheel-axle at the respective sides of the archedportion thereof, an operating-lever pivotally mounted upon the mainframe in rear of said crank-shaft, a rigid operatingrod connected withsaid operating-lever, and extending thence to one of the arms of thecrank-shaft, and means for locking said op-.

crating-lever in various positions of adjustment, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a cultivator, the combination with the wheel-frame, of ashovel-beam frame supported from the wheel-frame at a point in front ofthe wheel-axle by a connection which permits lateral movement of theshovel-beam frame relatively to the wheel-frame at such point ofsupport, and a shifting-lever pivoted on the wheel-frame and directlyconnected to the shovel-beam frame, whereby the latter frame may beshifted bodily laterally to 00- cupy different parallel positions,substantially as described- 3. In a cultivator, the combination, withawheel-frame and shovel-beams, of an arched bar connecting the forwardends of said shovel-beams and swinging links whereby the arched bar issuspended from the wheelframe, and a lever pivoted on the wheel-frameand connected to the arched bar,"substan-' tially as described. I

4. In a cultivator, the combinatiomwith a I wheel-frame andshovel-beams, of an archbar connecting the forward ends of theshovelbeams, swinging supports for said arch-bar connected to theWheel-frame in front of the wheel-axle, v pivoted braces extending fromthe shifting frame to the Wheel-frame, and a shifting-lever connecteddirectly to the arch bar whereby the arch-bar may be shifted lat erallyindependently of the wheel-frame, substantially as described.

5. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame having a rockingcrank-axle, shovel-beams connected at their forward ends by a shiftableframe, a shifting-lever connected to said frame and braces extendingfrom said shovel-beam frame to the main frame and adapted to hold theshovel-beam frame in position while permitting the crankaxle to berocked, substantially as described.

6. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame andshovel-beams, of an archbar connecting the forward ends of theshovelbeams, swinging supports for the arch-bar, a shifting-leverdirectly connected to said archbar, and a pivoted tongue to which theshifting-lever is also connected, substantially as described.

7. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame andshovel-beams, of a laterallyshiftable shovel-beam frame, ashifting-lever directly connected to said shovel-beam frame, a pivotedtongue and a link affording a removable connection between said tongueand the shifting-lever, substantially as described.

8. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame andshovel-beams, of a laterally shiftable shovel-beam frame, ashifting-lever directly connected to said shovel-beam frame, whereby itmay be shifted independently of the Wheel-frame, and a pivoted tonguealso connected to the shifting-lever, and means for locking the tongueand thereby the shifting-lever and shiftable frame, substantially asdescribed.

9. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame andshovelbe'ams, of an arched bar connectingthe forward ends of said beams,swinging links for suspending said arched bar from the wheel-frame, apivoted tongue and a shifting-lever directly connected to the arched barand a link connecting said shifting-lever to the tongue, substantiallyas described.

10. In a wheel-cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame having arocking crankaxle, shovel-beams connected at their forward ends andmeans for laterally shifting said shovel-beams bodily, braces connectingthe forward ends of the shovel-beams with the wheel-frame independentlyof the crank-axle, connections between the crank-axle and the front endsof the shovel-beams, and means for rocking the crank-axle and therebyautomatically raising the shovelbeam, substantially as described.

11. In awheel-cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame and itsrocking crankaxle, a rockshaft journaled to the main frame, rigid rodsconnecting the ends of said rocking shaft with the cranks of the axle,shovel-beams swinging upon a horizontal axis and links pivotallyconnected to the axle and to the shovel-beam eccentrically to theirpivots, and means for rocking the crank-axle, whereby the shovel-beamsare automatically lifted and the frame is balanced,substantially asdescribed.

12. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame andshovel-beams, of a laterally-shiftable shovel-beam frame, ashiftinglever connected to said shovel-beam frame, a pivoted tongue, alink whereby said tongue may be also detachably con nected to theshifting-lever, and means for locking the tongue rigidly to thewheel-frame to permit the shovel-beam frame to swing laterally.independently of the tongue, substantially as described.

13. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame andshovel-beams, of a shovelbeam frame connecting the forward ends of theshovel-beams, and suspended from the wheel-frame, a shifting-leverdirectly connected to the shovel-beam frame, and a pivoted tongue alsoconnected to the shifting-1w ver, and means for locking the tonguerigidlyand thereby the shifting-lever and shiftable frame, substantiallyas described.

14. In a cultivator, the combination, with a Wheel-frame andshovel-beams, of an arched bar connecting the forward ends of theshovelbeams, and capable of being swunglaterally, braces extending fromthe arched bar to the wheel-frame and springs connected to said bracesand eccentricallyto the journal-boxes of the shovelbeams, substantiallyas described.

15. In a cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame andshovel-beams, of a shovelbeam frame mounted upon the main frame so as tobe shifted laterally thereof, means for shifting said frame laterallyand for locking said frame against lateral movement, said shovel-beamsbeing normally rigidly attached to their frame, and means for convertingsaid attachment toa pivotal connection, substantially as described.

16. In a wheel-cultivator, the combination, with a wheel-frame having arocking crankaxle, shovelbeams, an arched bar having journals upon whichthe shovel-beams are mounted, swinging links for suspending the archedbar from the wheel-frame, a shifting? lever pivoted upon the main frameand connected directly to the arched bar, a pivoted tongue, and a linkconnecting the tongue and the shifting-lever, braces extending from thearched bar to the wheel-frame and rods having a sliding connection withthe crank-axle and connected to the shovel-beams eccentrically to theirpivots,substantially as described.

FRANK E. DAVIS.

WVitnesses:

O. C. LINTHICUM, A. I-IIRsHHEIMER.

